This week turned out to be somewhat funky. I drove back from visiting my parents on Monday. Tuesday, I realized I left my laptop charger at my parents house and that there was mold growing in my basement (where I currently have my PC set up). I finally got my charger in the mail (thanks, Mom), but it did involve me not doing as much work as I wish I could. I also had a couple times this week when my anxiety was getting heightened which impacted my work stamina.
what work did I do ?
-I organized prior notes and quotations for my Pastebin article.
-I read a relevant essay and took notes on it.
-I had a meeting with my advisor.
-I had a meeting about the Cop City article that got rejected. I worked on that paper for about 45 minutes before the meeting.
-I tried revising my writings. I wasn't able to complete two polished paragraphs as I hoped, but I did make some headway.
I've been taking notes on how to write better and then reflecting on my writing. Some things I've taken note of:
Paragraph flow: starting general to specific. what is this paragraph trying to get at? Ask yourself: Does each sentence add new information? If not, can I combine or cut it?
Specificity: Where am I speaking too vague? How can I make it more specific?
-where am I repeating myself?
-I made a list of transition phrases as well as replacement words for overly wordy phrases.
Some reflections:
- The more I have written on the page the more it overwhelms me to revise it.
- Figuring out how to articulate myself just overwhelms me in general. I feel this way when I talk too. It's why I waffle so much when I speak and tend to go on tangents or add prefaces to talking. Its like I have so many ideas in my head that i don't know how to calm my brain down to get what I want to say in a succint way.
- It's difficult to figure out how to be more articulate and specific if you still haven't fully figured out your thesis and are still doing research while you are writing.
- Presently, my desk set up (which is in our gross basement) isn't very ideal. I wish I could wake up with a post it note immediately on my forehead that overviewed what I'm trying to do that day.
- I notice I focus better (and feel better generally) if I stick to a morning routine and start working at 10:30 to 11am. Unless I am having mental health or physical health things come up, I do my best if I work for 2-2:30 hours. However, I feel guilty for only working 2 hours a day.
- I need to have some kind of 'dopamine' boost in the morning. I tend to play a stupid video game for 45 minutes before I do that work. I have felt bad about that, but maybe I have to accept that I need some kind of chill/enjoyable activity before I work?